Our First (& Definitely Not Last!) Stay at AKL Aug 31-Sept 7, 2003 - COMPLETED!! About This Page:

[tikibird]

Another great updated - enjoyed hearing about your day at EPCOT, and sounds like you got some good shopping in, too!

Looking forward to more!

[Luv2plan]

Day 5 MGM Studios, and me and Matt’s Date Night at California Grill

This morning we are off to MGM Studios. Matt brought some breakfast up from Mara for us, and we got out the door pretty quickly today. The goal was to see Playhouse Disney and meet Stitch. Anything else would just be a bonus.

It didn’t quite meet the criteria for meeting Stitch, but a giant twin of his did greet us when we pulled up at the bus stop at MGM. I know this, and the Lion King display at AK are out to advertise the new dvd’s, but I don’t care, I like seeing them!

My parents hadn’t been hungry before we left AKL, so after wandering down Hollywood Boulevard towards the Animation Court with us, they decided to find some breakfast while we took Tessa to see Stitch. I believe they got some coffee and pastries from Starring Rolls, my dad said the coffee was very good.

We were one of the first people in line to see Stitch so we had to wait 5-10 minutes for him to come out. It was a nice waiting area though, mazed through a section decorated with animation cell art. Tessa gave him a big high five, but didn’t want to give up her pacifier. I thought Matt fit right into the photo op with his Hawaiian shirt on!

My mom and dad met back up with us in front of Playhouse Disney. I had wanted to catch one of the first shows as this was a must-do on our list. I just love that big wall with all the characters! Matt, Tessa, and I got in line and took turns popping out with Tessa to let her run around a little when she got too antsy. I’d say we were probably in line about 25 minutes total and were able to get a seat up near the front when we got inside. My dad has a bad back and really couldn’t sit on the floor through the show, so Matt ended up staying outside with him (they probably went to get more coffee!) and my mom jumped in line at the last minute and was able to come up and sit with us since there was plenty of room.

What a cute show!! I would definitely say don’t miss this one if you have little kids who like the Disney Channel characters. Tessa clapped & sang & stood up to dance. At one point they even let all the kids come up to the front so they can dance near the stage. She was super-excited to see Bear in the Big Blue House but was very skeptical of the host who I think is supposed to look like the man from Out of the Box. It was like Tessa knew it just wasn’t him and didn’t like being duped – she kept shooting him sketchy looks.



I would have loved to jump back in line to see the next show again, but it would have been a pretty long wait and reason won out. We went over to see the Magic of Disney Animation instead. The CM out front told us the next tour was about to start, but we wanted to hit the rest rooms first and the CM was great to say just go ahead and he’d still let us into this tour a few minutes late.

I hadn’t seen this in a few years, and it had definitely changed a lot. Mostly it seemed due to the big use of computers in animation now. So quite a few parts of the cute film with Robin Williams had been cut out since they don’t do the process the same way anymore as far as hand painting a lot of the cells like they used to. Anyway, it was still an interesting tour, and I think it has been totally re-vamped even since September.

Matt and I were definitely “all done” and needed a nice, sit-down lunch break where someone would kindly bring the food to us. We split up with mom & dad, who weren’t ready for lunch, and headed to Sci-Fi Dine-In Theater Restaurant which is a favorite of ours. Along the way we even saw Mike & Sully from Monsters Inc. but Tessa was happy to just wave to them as we went by.

The Sci-Fi Dine-In is just so fun! How cool to sit in cars instead of at regular tables. It’s amazing how they’ve really made the whole thing like a drive in, right down to the “night time” lighting. As you can see from the picture, the sandwiches are huge! There was no way I was going to be able to finish that, but boy was it good (it was the turkey sandwich, Matt had the chicken Caesar salad and also thought it very good)! I’m not sure it was even noon yet, and I didn’t realize how weary I sounded when I ordered a beer, until the waitress laughed at me & teased me that “oh, it had come to that already!” She was a lot of fun, and kept cracking us up with how she would call Matt “Dad.” Tessa ate every crumb of her grilled cheese and couldn’t take her eyes off the movie screen. Her favorites were any trailers with robots in them. She said “robot?” sort of questioningly at first, but soon was pointing and cheering “Robot!” any time they came on. There was another couple seated at the back of our car – I think most of them are about 3 rows like this – and they asked if we would take their picture in exchange for taking ours.



I ordered a chocolate shake to go – good thing because I had to let it melt a little to drink it, it was so thick! And we headed back to AKL for a nap. My parents stayed at MGM to have lunch at the Brown Derby. They said the meal was excellent and the service made them feel like they were out for a special dinner. There was also a CM playing an old-time movie star going around to tables and he signed a photo for them, really playing it up. They also saw the One Man’s Dream show and said it was really fantastic, very informative. My mom kept saying that Matt and I really had to catch it when we went back to MGM another day, but unfortunately we never got a chance to see it.

I thought I’d add a shot of my parents at MGM since they had such a nice day there. I don’t know if you can quite see the Mickey-head & Mickey driving the car on my mom’s shirt, but she has some great Disney clothes and got comments from CM’s and other guests all week.

Next: Matt & I dine at California Grill

[Colexis Mom]

Sounds like a great day at MGM Looking forward to more

[tikibird]

Sounds like a great day at MGM - and meeting Stitch - how cool is THAT?

Loved the pics too!

Looking forward to hearing about the California Grill!

[luvnwdwgal]

Great update! Love the pictures!

[Leah's Dad]

Wow, what a great day! Your day just proves WDW is somewhere you can go to again and again be able to enjoy the individual parks. That's the benefits of having gone a few times. The first time you go you want to take it all in and enevitably you can't. I can tell you've chose to not rush and enjoy. Good for you!!!

[mac]

I'm really enjoying your trip report Nicole ! I am familiar with 495, and have to agree with your comparison on Test Track.

[Luv2plan]

Day 5 Part 2 – Matt & I dine at California Grill

Tessa & I totally crashed when we got back to our room, and took a nice long nap. I later noticed a receipt from Uzima Springs lying on the table, so I think I know how Matt spent his time while we were napping!

It was good to take it easy today, and I’m glad my parents got to spend some time to themselves at MGM, especially since they’d have Tessa all night while we went to dinner. Our PS for California Grill was at 7:50, and a friend had recommended we check in early to ask for a seat by the window if one was available. My parents were back from MGM in plenty of time for us to leave a little early, and they quickly scooped up Tessa and shooed us out the door.

We decided to stop off at MK first and walk around a little. We just had to ride POC again, I think I’ve spent more time in Adventureland than anywhere else in the World this trip. And of course, bought a few things in the little shop I love outside the ride. We didn’t go on any more rides, just strolled around together people-watching and looking around. It was just nice to be alone together, well, alone in a sea of people!

A quick ride on the monorail over to the Contemporary – I don’t think I’ll ever stop thinking “Cool!” when we drive right through the Contemporary on the monorail. Only this time it was even cooler, because we were getting out for dinner! We were very psyched to try California Grill as our friends had just raved about the food, the wine, and watching the fireworks. We were very early for our PS, so spent a little time just poking around the concourse level (I think it’s called that?) looking in the shops. There was a big snowglobe in the center of the concourse featuring the icon of each park. Funnily enough I’d been looking for a Christmas ornament all week with just something like that design, but with no luck. Too bad I couldn’t take home this guy, but I don’t think it would have fit through my front door!

Still early, but happy to hang out and have a drink at the bar, we headed up to California Grill to check in for our PS. They said that no window seats were going to be available any time in the next hour or two, so we said fine and we’d just wait at the bar for our table. The hostess then said she could seat us in the wine room right away. I didn’t know about that, and said we were happy to wait for a table in the main room. She kept pushing it, saying we could just see the table and come back if we didn’t like it. My gut told me to stick to my guns, but my mind was trying to be logical and say go look at the wine room since we’d never even been there before.

The wine room was all the way at the other end of the restaurant, so we passed by all the hustle & bustle of the main room with its big windows & open kitchen – I was liking everything right away! Now, in its defense, the wine room was very quiet and private, and had a great view of Epcot. But I wasn’t happy from the moment we got there. I kept telling myself it was fine and the important thing was that I was out to dinner with Matt. But when the waitress came to take our drink order and responded with “I really don’t know, any of them are fine” to my question about a couple of the wines, I just knew enough was enough and I wasn’t going to have a good time sitting back there away from all the activity, and now with lousy service. So we went back to the hostess and said we’d wait for a table in the main room. I did feel bad for our waitress, as I know from experience it stinks to have a party move on you like that, but she should have been a little more helpful too.

We were seated right away, at a table near the open kitchen. I felt instantly better! Now I felt like we were a part of the action instead of on the sidelines. Seeing all the food come up was making my mouth water, and it was fun to watch a family near by who had little girls all dressed up in Cinderella costumes. I guess I should just learn to go with my gut in the first place!

Jenny, our new waitress, was enthusiastic-borderline-hyper and had great suggestions for both wine & dinner. I don’t know how she doesn’t wear herself out, keeping up that level of energy, but she sure was a lot of fun!

Then, the moment we’d been looking forward to – the kitchen shut down, they dimmed the lights, and invited everyone out on the observation deck to watch the fireworks. Wow!! Sensational!! Fantastic!! The fireworks were beautiful, and so was standing there with Matt’s arm around me, with my wine glass in my hand. When the fireworks ended, we hung back so we could get a good view of MK. The castle, Space Mountain, even the monorail & Grand Floridian, all looked so neat all decked out in lights.

Jenny had covered our plates while we were outside, a nice touch. Of course, I ordered dessert, even though I was stuffed, and even Matt ordered dessert with his coffee. The meal came to $166 with tip, and was definitely worth it.

The valet called us a cab, which came within a few minutes. I think it was about $20 with tip for the cab ride back to AKL, but so worth it to be driven straight back to the resort. On a previous trip we had learned our lesson by taking a 90-minute bus trip from Wilderness Lodge back to Boardwalk Villas after eating at Artist Point. As you can see, I’d definitely recommend the cab! And I’d definitely recommend California Grill, and not just to couples – we saw a lot of families really enjoying the whole boisterous atmosphere and great views.

Up Next: Day 6 Part 1 - we’re headed back on safari, on a jaunt through Asia, and back in time on Dinosaur!

[luvnwdwgal]

Sounds like you two had a beautiful evening together!

[Colexis Mom]

What a magical dinner Looking forward to more

[Luv2plan]

Day 6, Part 1: Back on safari, on a jaunt through Asia, and back in time on Dinosaur!

Tessa managed to push Matt completely out of bed during the night, so we were up bright & early. We grabbed breakfast & some coffee on the run at Mara as we had one thing only on our minds this morning – heading back to Africa for another Safari!
Gotta love that quick bus ride over to AK from AKL, we were there in a few minutes. Straight to Africa, and another walk-on to Kilimanjaro Safaris! This was by far our best safari ride of the trip. The weather, which had been so humid the last couple of days, finally was cooling off as it felt like it would rain any minute. I think this definitely perked the animals up, as they were all really active. The male lion was doing a whole bunch of pacing & showing off for us, and we even got stuck for a few minutes as a giraffe was blocking the road. She didn’t seem to have much interest in moving, because even after a CM tried banging a broom & dustpan to move her along, she took up residence right in front of our safari vehicle to munch on some more leaves.



We hadn’t spent much time in Asia yet, so we headed over to the Maharajah Jungle Trek – stopping for a few snacks along the way, like a frozen banana & a frozen lemonade, I knew I should have eaten more breakfast!

I just love the architecture in the Asia section of AK. We took lots of pictures along the river, in the tiger habitat, and any other little area that caught our attention. There are definitely plenty of interesting little nooks & crannies to explore along the winding river, with great views of the Tree of Life, and it’s especially nice when you catch a little breeze off the water.



Matt & I had seen the tigers jumping & playing the last time we were here, but mom & dad had to be content with some lazy, but up close, views of the tigers. My mom wasn’t too keen on the bat house, but it’s a favorite of Matt’s.



I really wanted to see Flights of Wonder, but since I hadn’t gotten to see any other shows or parades yet, I wasn’t really keeping my hopes up about it. But luckily for me, a show was starting just a few minutes from when we came strolling out of the Asia area. We were all in a really laid-back kind of mood today so while no one else jumped for joy that we were going to catch the show, at least they agreed to go!



For having simply shrugged and agreed to go, everyone in our group really enjoyed it. I, of course, loved it! (Is everyone getting sick of me saying “loved it!” yet? I noticed I describe everything that way!) As usual, I expected a “classroom” type bird-show and I don’t know why I can’t remember “I’m at Disney!!” and it’s not going to be like that! We saw eagles, owls, parrots, and many other birds, and it really is thrilling to see – and feel! – the birds of prey swooping down over your heads to the trainers on stage.

After a few “see, I told you it would be good!” on my part, we decided to grab some lunch. Since we were going to be doing the character breakfast at Restaurantasaurus on our last day, we thought we’d go check it out. It’s very cute, and much bigger inside than I thought it would be. We had a lot of fun checking out all the Dig Site drawings & info on the walls while we ate. Everyone stuck with regular McDonalds fare like cheeseburgers, and Tessa got a Mcnuggets happy meal. The toy was a little squirt gun dinosaur which she still plays with in the bathtub.

I know a lot of people don’t like the Dinoland area, but I think it’s cute, and looks exactly like it’s supposed to – kitschy & silly. My mom & dad got a kick out of the old cars parked around the “lot” and we all had fun peeking in the windows at what was inside the cars. Our goal here was Dinosaur, which we’d tried to ride or get fastpasses for before lunch, but it was closed at the time. Luckily, it was now open and we were just hoping we wouldn’t be sorry for riding it with full stomachs! Mom opted to stay with Tessa and they explored the plaza in front of the Dinosaur building while they waited. There is lots of shade here, and apparently Tessa found some birds to entertain her. We walked right on, very excited to try this ride, especially when we entered the loading area and could look down at the ride vehicles – very cool!

I guess the best way to describe the ride is to show you our ride picture: That's us in the front row. Ok, it actually wasn’t scary, it was just plain fun, but we obviously got really into it! It’s what Matt & my dad call a ten-year-old boy ride – in other words, it’s about the level of excitement that easily regresses them to ten-year-old boys and if you can do this, you can have a lot of fun with it. I would happily ride this again!

Since we were all having such an easy-going day and Tessa was hanging in there well, we decided to go straight over to MGM Studios to catch a few of the shows we missed the other day, instead of heading to AKL for a rest. I think we were all starting to realize that the end of our trip was in sight too!

Next: Under the Sea with Little Mermaid, and back at AKL it’s a Wildebeest Stampede!

[dsnytina]

Fabulous TR! Thank you for taking the time to write this for us - loved the Dinosaur picture!
Tina

[Colexis Mom]

Great update Thanks for sharing Looking forward to more

[luvnwdwgal]

Very nice update Nicole! Love the pictures!

[Luv2plan]

Day 6 Part 2 Under the Sea with Little Mermaid, and back at AKL it’s a Wildebeest Stampede!

At MGM my dad & Matt wanted to catch the Indiana Jones Stunt Spectacular, which my mom & I didn’t mind missing (it’s a good show, I just wasn’t interested in seeing it again this trip.) So we went instead to Voyage of the Little Mermaid. Mom had raved about this show ever since she & dad had seen it on their last trip. Apparently they had been walking by the entrance when an older couple stopped them and said they just had to go see it, as they noticed that my parents were also sans kids and probably wouldn’t have picked the show otherwise. Mom said they really appreciated the tip as they really enjoyed the show. I think the other woman’s kindness in bringing it to her attention is what really made it stick with my mom.

We kept hoping Tessa might doze off in her stroller, but since she was still awake, we parked the stroller and went in to the next showing of Little Mermaid. The three of us all enjoyed the singing, and the whole grotto feel of the theatre. Personally I liked the lighting effects that make it look like you really are under the sea.

It wasn’t time to meet the guys yet, and after a little strolling Tessa did drop off, so we went over to see about One Man’s Dream, which my mom had enjoyed the other day. But you can’t take strollers in there, and I didn’t want to see it enough to leave mom standing around outside with Tessa – and obviously we weren’t going to wake her up!! Besides, I had bigger things in mind – like Rock ‘n Roller Coaster.

When we met up with the guys after the Indy show let out, mom & dad said they’d sit with Tessa at the little tables on Echo Lake while we went on RRC. Well, while Matt accompanied me to the entrance that is, no way was he riding! There was a fairly short wait, and I was really eager to try this ride since it gets such great reviews. I loved the pre-show, thought the loading area was a little chaotic – although now that I think about it, it sort of is chaotic around the Fleet Center – but I didn’t enjoy the ride itself at all. I don’t think I had the harness pulled down enough, or was sitting up enough or something, because I couldn’t keep my head from banging side to side against the harness and couldn’t wait for the torture to end!

Oh well, you can’t win ‘em all, and in the end it was pretty pleasant to sit by Echo Lake with a stuffed pretzel (apples & cinnamon, yum!) and enjoy the day while Tessa napped a few more minutes. Mom & dad had already headed out, and we set off for AKL when Tessa woke up.

Before I forget, we did see the big character spectacular, or whatever it’s really called, at MGM that day. I call it annoying. Sorry to sound so harsh, in general I’m really glad there is so much more character interaction than there was when I was a kid. But I just found the whole booming announcements, loud music, & rush of characters a little too much.

Anyway, I don’t know if it was the nap, or the fact that she was really warming up to “living” at the Lion King Store, or what, but Tessa was in rare form that evening. We got in lots of exploring around the resort; actually I’m noticing that a lot of the pictures of the lodge that I posted earlier in the report were taken that day. Maybe it was even just something in the air, the impending rain, because the animals were all really active too. From our balcony we got to watch a whole group of wildebeest galloping back & forth & in a circle. Tessa would throw her arms in the air & yell “stampede!” Ok, she gets that over-exaggerating from me, but since usually the animals are just moseying about or eating, seeing them run was pretty exciting.

We had all taken turns with picking up quick things, like pizza, from Mara so dinner was kind of on the go. But because of that we got to catch some of the Games with Savanna Guides in the sunset overlook room. This was really better for kids a little older, maybe 5 or 6, but the part we sat in on involved identifying animals from pictures and Tessa really enjoyed it. You couldn’t leave until you pronounced “Gemsbok” correctly (a type of antelope) which I still can’t do like our guide did, but he let us go anyway since Tessa was jumping up & down & saying “Beesbock, Beesbock” so excitedly. I thought it was a pretty good effort for a two-year-old! She was also given a bead to string on a rope bracelet, and you could collect other beads at other AKL kids activities.

The evening really topped off for us with the African storytelling out by the firepit. There was a huge crowd, and at first even the CM couldn’t believe everyone there was really staying at AKL, but apparently a lot of people had checked in that day. He started off asking some general questions about Africa, like did anyone know how many countries there are in Africa. Quite a few little hands shot up, and the little girl picked to answer proudly stated “I’m from Florida!” This absolutely set the tone of the event as everyone was really laughing & enjoying themselves. Tessa changed seats a few times and ended up on a little stool right in front of the CM who was standing up behind her. I think this made her think that people were actually speaking to her, since they would be looking right at her when answering. Anyway, whatever anyone said drew a response from her – like the CM asked what animals we’d seen and when one boy answered “lions” Tessa piped up with “oh! Lions! RROOAARR!” The CM did go on to tell an entertaining African fable, but so much of the fun for us was seeing what a good time Tessa had.

Oh no, could it really be almost time to go? Tomorrow would be our last full day at the World!

Next: we just can’t stay away from Boma, and Mom takes on Buzz Lightyear